happy st. patrick's day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Just a few months ago I sat with my sister at a pub in Dublin, Ireland enjoying heaping plates of fish and chips, shepard's pie, cold glasses of Smithwick's with a Guinness top and cider. Man, what I wouldn't give to be feasting on the above platter right now...(Ireland, I feel confident that we shall meet again)...

Today is officially the only approved day on which you may call me "Patty" (as I'm legally a Patricia): use this privilege wisely, my friends, as it truly comes just once a year. We'll be celebrating tonight with one of B's Irish grandmother's traditional dishes (that I cannot for the life of me remember how to spell or even say, so I'll have to get back to you on that). I'm looking forward to humbly acknowledging a piece of both our heritages, especially since my trip proved to be so beautiful and rich with a resilient history that it sparked within me a surge of pride to be part of an Irish lineage.

Whether or not you, too, have a connection to Ireland, I think as a Grateful Lifer you will enjoy this poem as much as I do:

O’ What is it all when all is told
This ceaseless tolling for fame and gold
The fleeting joy of bitter tears
We’re only here for a few short years
Nothing’s our own save the silent past
Loving or hating-no thing can last
Each pathway leads to a silent fold
O’ what is it all when all is told

What is it all a grassy mound
Where day or night there is never a sound
Save the soft low moan of the fanning breeze
As it lovingly rustles the silent trees.
Or a thoughtful friend with whispered prayer
May sometimes break the stillness there
Then hurry away from the gloom and the cold
O’ what is it all when all is told

What is it all just passing true
A cross for me and a cross for you
Ours seems heavy while others seem light
But God in the end makes all things right
He tempts the mind with loving care
He knows the burden that each can bear
Then turns life’s grey into loving gold
O’ what is it all when all is told.

- Mona Tierney

Wishing you luck,

Trish